To borrow a famous song lyric: another day older and deeper in debt.
That’s where many Canadians find themselves these days as the relentless increases in interest rates are starting to be felt more broadly. And it will likely only get worse.
StatsCan has just issued a report showing Canadians are carrying debt worth 184 per cent of household disposable income. In other words, we owe collectively, $184 for every $100 we earn.
RBC issued a report on the situation saying they expect it will continue to deteriorate: we aren’t really adding on a lot of fresh debt but higher interest rates increased our payments by 17 per cent in just the first three months of this year. So, any growth in income levels is being gobbled up by rising interest costs.
And a senior economist for Desjardins who was speaking in Saskatoon last week said we should expect this to get more pronounced in the next year or two as a large number of mortgages come up for renewal and payments could rise by as much as $30,000 a year.
